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Bollywood-loving Bahraini royal wins court case over meeting with stars
The ways and costs of meeting the Indian stars were set out in much detail in the court that heard the case brought by the businessman, Ahmed Adel Abdallah Ahmed, against Sheikh Hamad Isa Ali al-Khalifa, a distant cousin of the king of Bahrain.
The England high court has dismissed a multi-million dollar claim brought by an Egyptian businessman against a member of the Bahraini royal family for allegedly reneging on a contract to get paid for facilitating meetings with 26 Bollywood stars, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranveer Singh.
The ways and costs of meeting the Indian stars were set out in much detail in the court that heard the case brought by the businessman, Ahmed Adel Abdallah Ahmed, against Sheikh Hamad Isa Ali al-Khalifa, a distant cousin of the king of Bahrain.
Ahmed’s claim was that there was a contract between him and the royal based on a conversation of January 7, 2016; that he was the latter’s exclusive agent to organise meetings with the stars for a fee of $ 1.5 million for each meeting and a bonus payment of $ 500,000 on the completion of every third meeting.
The defence denied the existence of such a contract or to pay the amounts mentioned. Sheikh Hamad brought the relationship to an end in March 2016 after five meetings with four stars. Ahmed claimed that by doing so, Sheikh had acted in repudiatory breach of the contract.
Ahmed claimed $ 1.5 million in respect of each of the five meetings, together with one bonus of $ 500,000. He also claimed damages in respect of the meetings that did not take place as a result of the premature termination, calculated on the basis that he was contractually entitled to arrange a further 22 meetings.
Prior to the arrangement being stopped, Ahmed arranged for Sheikh to meet Shah Rukh Khan (on January 16, 2016 in Mumbai), Salman Khan (on February 11, 2016 in Mumbai), Ranveer Singh (on March 6, 2016 in Dubai), Aditya Roy Kapoor on (March 16, 2016 in Dubai); and a second meeting with Ranveer Singh (on March 17, 2016, in Dubai. He was paid various sums of money for the meetings.
Justice Jacobs said: “I reject Mr. Ahmed’s account of the phone conversation on 7 January 2016, and I reject his case that there was any agreement on the terms alleged. Since I have rejected Mr. Ahmed’s case as to all aspects of the 7 January 2016 agreement, it does not seem to me that the claim can succeed at all”.
“The claim for sums owing for the meetings that did take place, including the bonus, fails because there was no agreement to pay US$ 1.5 million per meeting plus bonus. The claim for damages for repudiation, in respect of the 22 meetings which did not take place, fails because there was no agreement which committed the Sheikh to meeting a list of 26 stars”.
No list of 26 stars that Sheikh Hamad was to meet was produced in court. He was described as a man with a passion for Bollywood films, having been introduced to them as a child by his Indian nanny.
The order said that after terminating the arrangement with Ahmed, Hamad met several Bollywood stars during a trip to India in April 2016, arranged by one Sameer Qureshi, who was paid a fraction of the amount that Sheikh Hamad had paid Ahmed. Qureshi was paid $ 1 million in total in relation to the approximately 13 actors that the Sheikh met.
In the lengthy judgment that included transcripts of messages between Ahmed, Sheikh Hamad and others, the judge said: “The defence to the claim was straightforward. Sheikh Hamad denied that any agreement, as alleged by Mr. Ahmed, was made in the January 2016 phone call”.
“If, however, any agreement can be spelt out of that phone call, then there was no intention to create legal relations. The Sheikh also contended that any arrangement was terminable at will, so that there could in any event be no claim for damages in relation to the meetings that were arranged, or could have been arranged, during April 2016 or subsequently”.
